Serbia Opposition Holds Protest Rally to Cancel Election Results: [Date] Demonstrations in Belgrade by Serbia Against Violence Coalition

In Belgrade, opposition supporters held a protest rally on the evening of December 18 demanding to cancel the results of parliamentary and local elections, which were won by the Progressive Party of Serbia (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic. The newspaper reports this Politicsstate TV channel RTS and Balkan service “Radio Liberty”.

The action was carried out by the opposition coalition “Serbia against violence”. Protesters marched from the Belgrade City Assembly building to the building of the Republican Electoral Commission (REC).

Representatives of the opposition claimed fraud during the voting and refused to recognize the election results. They, in particular, claim that in Belgrade more than 40 thousand people who do not live in the capital illegally voted in favor of the SNS in the elections to the city assembly.

Protesters threw eggs, tomatoes and toilet paper at the election commission building. At one point, a small group of protesters tried to break through the security fence in front of the REC building, but opposition leaders called on those gathered to “not give in to provocations” and remain calm. According to Radio Liberty, the protest lasted four hours, after which its participants began to disperse.

Opposition leaders Miroslav Aleksic (People’s Party) and Marinika Tepic (Freedom and Justice Party) have gone on a hunger strike, which they say will last until the results of the vote are cancelled.

According to the Serbian state channel, about 1,600 people took part in the action. Russian TASS agency citing its correspondent in Belgrade writes about “thousands” of protesters.

According to preliminary estimates, the ruling right-wing populist Progressive Party of Serbia (SNS) won 46.72% of the votes in the parliamentary elections. The opposition bloc “Serbia against violence” received 23.56%, the Socialist Party of Serbia – 6.56%. Thus, Vucic’s party will receive 127 seats in parliament out of 250.

Representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) statedthat the SNA received an “unfair advantage” in the elections due to media bias towards the opposition, the influence of Aleksandar Vučić and voting irregularities. “Election Day was marred by isolated incidents of violence, procedural irregularities and frequent allegations of organizing and busing voters to support the ruling party in local elections,” the OSCE statement said. In turn, the German Foreign Ministry named such violations are “unacceptable” for a country that has candidate status for the European Union.

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2023-12-19 07:11:00